


Merely Beardly

by Celtics534



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Coach Harry, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Missing Half-Blood Prince Moment, Pining Harry, Teen Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:41:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28479369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Celtics534/pseuds/Celtics534
Summary: Harry had never really had an opinion on beards. Yes, some men looked better with them than without them, but he never really considered how he would look with one. That was until he heard Ginny Weasley discuss facial hair.
Relationships: Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley
Comments: 2
Kudos: 60





	Merely Beardly

**Author's Note:**

> Happy new year, my friends! I thought we’d start the year off with a cute little 6th year hinny moment. I gotta thank TheDistantDusk for all her help. She is literally the best! This is a missing Half-Blood Prince moment, and I hope you all enjoy it!

Harry had never really had an opinion on beards. Yes, some men looked better with them than without them, but he never really considered how he would look with one. That was until he heard Ginny Weasley discuss facial hair. 

Now, he wasn’t eavesdropping, not truly. It was just that when Ginny was nearby Harry’s senses focused on her… and whatever she was doing or saying. 

“He is just —” Millie Dawson sighed dreamily. The three women around her nodded, including Ginny. 

“His hair. You just wanna run your hands through it,” Sarah Michaels claimed in a conspiratorial whisper (that wasn’t a whisper at all). 

“Oh, you’re right, Sarah,” the recently single Ginny agreed. That’s when Harry’s full and undivided attention focused on the Gryffindor group  _ studying _ at the table. “And not to mention that  _ beard _ .” The rest of the girls sighed their agreement as Sarah explained how it was trimmed to perfection. 

Harry had no idea who they were talking about (until about fifteen minutes later when they discussed the other members of The Trollin’ Trolls band). However, his interest was piqued to listen to how much some woman really seemed to like facial hair, in particular, Ginny...

That night after Ron had become distracted by a chess match with Seamus and Hermione started hovering around the studying OWL students, Harry looked up the drummer from the Trolls in one of the numerous magazines that littered the Common Room tables. 

The members were shown mid-concert, faces shining in sweat, and that content look of doing what they loved making them glow. Harry studied the faces of the men, in particular the drummer. They all had some sort of hair lining their jaws. The singer had a slight five-o’clock shadow, the guitarist had a long beard that could have housed a family of chipmunks. The drummer, Dayne Dark, Harry read, kept his facial hair trimmed, yet to a tangible length. 

Harry considered the look. Dark’s hair was a dirty blonde color and stood up in chaos. The beard didn’t seem too bad. It wasn’t long enough to get in the way and made the drummer look older than his twenty-four years.

_ Maybe if I have a beard… _ Harry’s mind started to toy with the idea. Ginny sitting on his lap, her fingers running over his jaw... 

“Harry?” 

Harry had to mentally shake himself to pull out of his daydream. Hermione was looking at him, a smug expression on her features. “I didn’t know you were a fan of The Trollin’ Trolls, Harry. I  _ know _ Ginny is a fan of them”

_ Damn his burning cheeks! _

The smug look expanded on Hermione’s face. “You know, I think she even has a thing for the drummer… Just change your hair color and add a beard and you would look kinda like him, don’t you agree?”

“Sure,” Harry murmured, not quite meeting her eyes. “What’s up, Hermione?”

“I was coming to see if you’ve had any more luck researching Horcruxes,  _ but _ I see you’ve been busy with some other research.”

If anyone was chilly, they could just touch Harry’s burning skin and find instant warmth. “Uh, no I haven’t found anything new.” 

“Alright. I just took a new book out of the library that seems promising. I’ll just let you get back to your  _ studying _ .”

Then she walked away as if she hadn’t just nearly killed one of her best friends with embarrassment. 

Over the next few days, however, Hermione’s words mixed with Harry’s own thoughts. He could try to grow something out… maybe get some basic stubble to crawl across his jawline. Then maybe Ginny would be talking about how much wanted to run her fingers along  _ his  _ jaw. And that seemed to settle it. 

Harry didn’t follow his normal morning routine for the next few days, forgoing his quick shave over. It didn’t take long for his chin to retain hair. On the contrary, within the first two days, he started to develop scratchy stubble. 

However, the problem was that his face only seemed to grow hair in odd, unflattering patches. It confused him immensely. When his aunt had cut his hair, he had been able to grow it back perfectly within a day. But now as a wizard with more control over his magic, he couldn’t grow some decent facial hair 

On his third day without shaving, Ron snorted when he walked out of the loo. 

“Mate, don’t take it personally, but that isn’t working for you.” He gestured vaguely at Harry’s jaw. 

He wasn’t entirely wrong. The patchy look didn’t seem to work for any male, and Harry was no exception. The desire to use some instant hair growth potion grew stronger every time someone sent a curious look his way. But Harry figured with his luck, his beard would surpass Dumbledore’s and that was  _ not _ what he wanted at all.

He wanted that dark, sexy, brooding look the drummer had. Sure, he already had the brooding bit down, but dark and sexy…  _ Yeah _ , those needed a little work. But for some reason, his mind connected the idea of having a beard with winning Ginny’s affection… and Ron being okay with their relationship because his sister was with a sophisticated bloke. That was utter rubbish of course, but Harry couldn’t stop his imagination from creating vivid dreams of it being true. 

So he continued to grow out his feeble beard, disappointed every morning when it still looked like that of a scruffy street dog and not that of the stylish drummer. And what made it worse was that he couldn’t stop touching the scruff. He felt ridiculous every time his fingers went from skin to hair in annoying inconsistency. But he couldn’t stop, which was why Harry rubbed his chin for the fifth time that practice, as he tried to focus on the chaser drills.

“Hey, Harry.” Peakes came up behind him. “Do you want us to add a little challenge to the shooting drill?” He gestured to himself and Cootes. 

“Uh…” Harry finally tore his eyes from Ginny as she completed an underhand pass to Katie. “Er… yeah, but one of you focuses on Ron every so often so we can work on his multitasking.”

Peakes smirked. “I'll be happy to take that honor.”

Harry snorted as Peakes walked off to tell his fellow beater. He blew his whistle, signifying the change in planned drills. 

Ginny and Katie landed while Demelza took her place on the attack. 

“So, Potter.” Ginny sauntered over, leaning on her broom handle once she was close enough for Harry to smell that flowery scent he associated with her. “What is going on with the beard?”

Harry could feel his heart sink. That was not the response he had hoped/imagined. In his mind’s eye, he had Ginny running her hands lovingly over his jaw telling him how much she loved the feel of it. Instead, he was getting…  _ this _ .

“Wh - What do you mean?” He stuttered. 

“What I mean.” Ginny let her broom fall to the ground as she moved in close. One of her fingers poked at one of the bald patches. “So since when have you decided to grow a beard?” 

_ The minute I heard you like them.  _

“I don’t know.” His hand jumped to the back of his heated neck. “Figured I’d try something new. What — how — do you —”  _ Great _ , and now he was stuttering like a fool. 

Ginny’s smirk widened. “Do I what? Do I like it? Hmm…” She scratched at her chin in consideration. Then she made a spinning motion with her finger. “Do a twirl for me, won’t you.”

Harry snorted. “Why would I  _ twirl _ ?”

That grin curling her lips only became more mischievous. “Because you want to give me a little show? Obviously, this was all an attempt to get my attention.”

Harry only  _ just  _ managed not to choke on his own spit. “Wh — what?” The word came out garbled, but Ginny didn’t seem to due to her own laughter. 

She gave his cheek two sharp pats, sending his pulse into overdrive. “You’ve got to get better at hiding your affection for me, Potter. The rest of the team might start getting jealous.” It was obvious she was kidding, but on the inside, Harry’s gut filled with millions of butterflies.

Harry ignored the snort that came from Katie, instead, turning his focus to Demelza. “Go with a Captor’s Knot, Demelza!” Once Demelza saluted his order he looked back at his other chasers. Ginny and Katie had settled on the grass, their scarlet robes under them, keeping the rest of their kit from gathering grass stains. 

“So, Captain,” Katie smirked at him. “What do you plan on doing with your manly beard? Are you gonna grow it out like Dumbledore?”

Harry shook his head, only just containing a snort. “Really?” 

Ginny scratched at her chin as if in deep thought. “He might be able to pull it off.”

“I don’t know, Ginny.” Katie squinted at Harry as if trying to see him from a far off distance. “I think he’s more of a tamed guy, especially because the top of his head won’t stay under control.” 

“Hmm, that would look  _ really  _ sexy.” Ginny rose, brushing off blades of grass as she came towards him, her expression that of a professional artist considering their work. Her fingers came up to run along his jaw, making every cell in Harry’s body freeze. When her fingers threaded into his hair, Harry practically purred. "But even without a beard, this mop of hair makes you look  _ damn  _ fine." 

She pulled away before Harry melted into a pile of goo at her feet. Ginny spun back to look at her fellow chaser. “Don’t you agree, Katie?”

Katie snorted. “Even if I didn’t, the gossip from the loo would convince me.” 

“The — the what?” Harry couldn’t get his brain to think clearly, all his thoughts hazed by the scent of Ginny’s flowery shampoo that lingered in his senses. 

Both girls laughed. “Trust us, Harry. You are a hot commodity. You already have every girl's attention.” 

Before Harry could ask what people had been saying, Delemza landed beside them, her breath coming out in heavy pants. “Was that — good enough, Cap?”

“I —” Harry cleared his throat, hoping his expression didn’t look as guilty as he felt. He hadn’t seen a second of Demelza’s plays. “It was great, Mel. You’ve really improved since the start of the year. And if you keep this up, next year you’ll be unstoppable.” Demelza beamed as she walked towards the water cooler on the other side of the pitch. Harry turned back to Katie and Ginny. Both girls had wide grins on their faces. “What?”

“That was a really nice thing to say, Harry.” Ginny patted his arm. “Mel sometimes feels out of place being the youngest chaser and you just said exactly what she needed to hear.” 

Harry shrugged, his hand jumping to rub the back of his neck. “Well… I mean it’s the truth.”

“And that’s what makes it all the better.” 

Harry met her gaze, heat spreading from his stomach all the way to the tips of his fingers. There was something about the way she looked at him that always seemed to turn his blood into fire. He had to look away before he combusted right there on the grass. “I — yeah.” He cleared his throat, praying that his face wasn’t as red as it felt. “Right, well how about one more run with all three of you? Speed drills against the beaters?” 

Katie nodded, pushing up from the ground. “Sure thing. I’ll get Demelza.” Once she jogged off, Harry didn’t have any distraction from the magnet that was Ginny. She was still staring at him, her lips curled in a smile that made him weak at the knees. 

Before Harry could register what was happening, Ginny was on her toes, her breath warming his earlobe. Shivers spread down his back in the best way. “Just so you know, I really do think the beard is sexy. But I can promise you it isn’t necessary.” Her lips brush against his earlobe. “You already have my _ attention _ .” 

Then before Harry could even remember his own name, Ginny pressed a kiss to his cheek, lingering long enough that Harry feared his knees might buckle, then she mounted her broom and was in the sky. 

Harry touched the spot where her lips had just been, his breath coming out in one long sigh. Swallowing hard he tried to focus on his team, but every part of him could only focus on the redhead with the quaffle tucked under her arm. He was certain Ginny Weasley might be the death of him one day.

He scratched at the stubble crawling along his jaw, his eyes following Ginny’s progress across the pitch. Harry decided at that moment, dying for Ginny Weasley wouldn't be so bad. 


End file.
